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I recently got a evening phone call from a seriously dear/best friend who was casually cooking on her grill. Now, I am not looking to put her on blast so I am going to change her name to Sally.

So Sally and I where on the phone chit chatting about stuff, and both of us are knocking back a few brewski’s, then suddenly I hear Sally yell to her kid to get a glass of water… Well, technically it went more like “OH Sh@#! GET ME A HUGE GLASS OF WATER! HURRY! SH#%!”. Now Sally and I live in the same city and kinda close to each other, so I was forced to ask “what the heck is going on?” Praying she isn’t going to burn down the city.

That’s the moment Sally had told me she needed to throw water on the grill fire! Now I could’ve been a huge jerk and been like “that’s cool Sally have at it”, but I wasn’t, I was like “NO DEAR LORD PLEASE DON’T!!! ARE YOU NUTS?!?!”

So in light of Sally’s terrible mistake or her potential to burn down her house… This post, Sally is for you!

Here Are 5 Steps To Take If You Have A Grill Fire!!!

DO NOT PUT WATER ON IT! While a fire is a fire and your gut instinct is to grab for water, in a grill is much more likely a grease fire and we all learned that water doesn’t mix with grease.

Turn the grill to off. Shutting the flow of fuel to your grill will allow the fire to just burn the grease.

Shut the lid (if possible). Shutting the lid simply cuts down on the oxygen the fire needs to burn.

Shut the fuel off. Turn the propane or gas off! If it’s coal, the shutting of the venting system will also let the fire burnout.

Take a moment & breath. If the fire is still going strong you can dump baking soda on it.

And the BEST WAY TO NOT have a grill fire is…. (insert cool drum roll).

CLEANLINESS!

It’s true, your fire was most likely started from grease. You know all that wonderful fatty delicious meat you cooked about a week ago? Well that meat had fats in it and those fats once cooked leaked and dripped all over creating the most wonderful place to start a fire.

Now we aren’t talking so clean that I can put it back on my showroom floor, but clean it following these steps.

Turn the grill on (either before you cook on it or after you cook on it, before is preferred because the grease protects the grates when not in use)

Place foil shiny side down on the grates (this concentrates the heat back down on the grates)

Monitor for around 15 min. The grill will start smoking . Pro Tip: White smoke is good, Black smoke is a grease fire! Turn grill off and wait….do not open the lid!

Turn grill off

remove foil

Use a grill brush or stone (we carry both in our store) to gently remove the food and gross from the grates (at this point, most of the grease, and food particles should have burned away leaving nothing more than ashes)

Remove and dump the grease tray

Sit back and relax!

See… It’s really not that hard and soon you will actually be in the habit of doing that!

Another huge question we get here at Country Hearth is if you should cover your grill… And our short answer is:

NO! Not in this region of the country (remember we are out of Toledo Ohio).

“Why?” You ask.

First of all in this region of the country especially around the Great Lakes, where we have a very high humidity, even in the winter. This humidity around these parts is a slightly acidic humidity. Putting a cover on your car or grill traps this moisture under the cover and deteriorates the metal parts prematurely.

Also, covering your grill creates the BEST ENVIRONMENT for rodents, spiders, and other creepy crawly critters. And in this Great Lakes region we have a lot of various pests that seek harbor in enclosed spaces. Just this summer season alone we have pulled out numerous nests. And don’t get us started on the AWFUL smell mice urine leaves on your grill once they have been evicted from their grill home. YUCK!

Now, I know a lot of you are gonna say, “yeah, but it keeps my grill clean”. You know what else keeps your grill clean? A hose (trust us, a hose will clean up that stainless steel beauty you have. Heck, we have even had people tells us baby oil or those stainless wipes do the trick as well).

Some people even say that the grill is too ugly to be seen, and that’s why they have a grill cover… Well, we have bad news for you on that point, too… A grill cover traps moisture on the inside, causing rust, corrosion, and paint to peel… Giving you that “ugly grill” look.

Covering it doesn’t help STOP it from falling apart, but actually helps speedup the process.

Please don’t get us wrong we would love to sell you a cover, but it would be a disservice to do so. Disclaimer Alert: This is a regional issue, and is not true in other parts of the country. We do business in the Great Lakes area and for thirty years have seen the results of covers.

In the winter – lift the lid ignite the grill close lid and the snow will melt away, and your ready to cook.

So, we get it… You love that football team or you that grill to last you forever… If that’s the case put a flag up for the team and leave that beautiful grill shine like the diamond she is!

Here at The Country Hearth we fill propane tanks… I mean, after all, that is a big portion of what we do. We fill anything from 5 lb, to 100 lb tanks each and everyday, and I thought I would let you in on a little secret that has a TON of people coming in….. for no reason at all…

The tank is full but when hooked up, nothing happens. The customer thinks the tank is empty and wastes time and gas to come see us, only to have us tell them they have a…

So here’s what ‘lock out’ means. All residential LP tanks (as mandated by the federal goverment in 2001) have a protection device that is part of the valve system. This will literally LOCK YOU OUT of your propane tank for safety reasons (i.e. propane goes BOOM).

You will give yourself a LOCK OUT if you do the following:

Hook up your propane tank and have one or more of your grill control valves in the ON position and then turn the tank ON.

Turn your grill ON by turning more than one control valve at the same time.

Turn your grill OFF by just the propane tank.

Sometimes excessive sunlight (overheating) will also cause a LOCK OUT – too much sunlight causes the propane to heat up and build excess pressure.

A leak or another tank issue will cause a LOCK OUT

HERE’S WHAT YA NEED TO DO:

Turn off the propane valve.

Slowly remove the black QCC connection (the black fitting that connects to the propane tank).

Make sure the appliance (grill, heater, whatever) valves are in the OFF position.

Reconnect tank to the QCC (black fitting that connects to the propane tank).

SLOWLY turn your propane tank back ON.

Turn your appliance back on, one valve at a time, light the appliance… THEN TURN THE OTHER VALVES ON (we’re on to you Scott).

If the tank is hot, you will most likely get a lock out again. If this occurs, just go ahead and repeat the instructions.

So don’t get LOCKED OUT and don’t panic if you do. Safety is a must when dealing with sweet lady propane, and we don’t wanna hear about any “BOOMS”.